Tranquility
by xtwilightzx
Summary: They take their rest near the edge of the Sea of Clouds, under the shade of a great tree, its leaves tinted red and orange with the coming of autumn. Youko and Keiki-centric


**Tranquility  
**

They take their rest near the edge of the Sea of Clouds, under the shade of a great tree, its leaves tinted red and orange with the coming of autumn.

_Twelve Kingdoms belongs to Fuyumi Ono.  
_

**AN:** I love playing in the 12k sandbox. In the anime (if I recall correctly), Japan is known as Hyourai to the folk in Twelve Kingdoms, while in the novels, it is known as Yamato. To prevent confusion (and since Youko's a taika, anyway) I just had Youko use the name Japan.

**start**

They take a little known path leading to the Outer Palace and follow the twists amongst the courts, pavilions and palace buildings. They meet not a soul – a kirin must possess instinctive navigational skills, Youko decides, or else Keiki has a hidden explorative side – and she soon loses track of which part of the palace they track on. But Keiki strides forward unwaveringly, careful never to tread more than three steps ahead of her, and Youko follows, a bemused smile on her lips.

Another turn, a brief hike through a small garden and then Keiki lifts one hand to draw a parting in a willow tree's curtain of leaves. Youko steps through wordlessly and stops, taking in the wide, open grassland before her. Trees grow in little patches along the sides, but beyond that, the meadow rolls on and on until they halt abruptly at a barrier that prevents the curious and the unknowing from tumbling into the Sea of Clouds.

It is hard to believe that they were still in Kinpa Palace, not with large willow trees planted strategically along the walls separating court from garden and nary a guard, paperwork or grumpy minister in sight.

Youko feels Keiki's presence behind her, slightly to the side – the position he prefers to take with regards to her in her presence.

"This is beautiful," Youko says, and breaths in deeply, allowing some pent up tension slip away as she exhales. "I never knew such a place existed in Kinpa – are we still in the palace?"

"Of course," Keiki replies primly, trailing in her wake as Youko moves forward in exploration. His heavy ministerial robes drag against the grass, a steady _rustle rustle rustle_ that is oddly soothing. "I could not take Your Majesty away from the palace when there are still matters to attend."

"But it's okay for me to skip out as long as we're in the Palace?" Youko asks cheekily.

Keiki sighs and Youko knows without turning that there is an exasperated look on his face, the look a parent levels at a willful child who was too endearing to scold. But when Youko dips her head to glance stealthily behind her, Keiki wears a mixed expression. Exasperation, if the furrowed eyebrows is anything to go by, but in his eyes there is a lingering anxiety and … relief?

"Your Majesty knows the answer to that question. As long as you hold court session with the ministers and have attended to the most immediate matters awaiting your attention, it shouldn't matter if you take an hour to yourself."

"An hour, eh?"

"Or longer, on condition that you return at latest by evening."

They near the middle of the meadow. Youko leaps, her arms spread out wide, a mock game of hopscotch she learned in her youth. "I'm surprised Koshou allowed us out without a guard," she says lightly, spinning so her hair sweeps behind her head in a fiery arc.

"My shirei are but a call away."

"And Koukan. And Kantai. And the rest of my ministerial cabinet."

"It was agreed that you deserved a break from your duties."

Youko makes a face at her shoes before facing Keiki. "Spill, Keiki. What are you all up to?" She doesn't like commanding her kirin, but sometimes it was the only way to pry _anything_ out of him.

Ever the imperial kirin, Keiki doesn't even blink at her sudden change of tactics. "If Your Majesty insists. The Chousai was ready to lock you out of court to force you into a day off. I decided a trip elsewhere would serve the purpose better – and prevent you from staging a yelling fight with your commanders."

Youko is speechless. "But – what-"

"It's come to our notice that you've been unduly tense, as if there is something heavy weighing on your mind." A determined glint joins the minute anxiety in Keiki's eyes. "There are many who worry about you, Your Majesty."

And Keiki is high on top of that list, Youko thinks, even though he schools his expressions with a skill that would put most poker players in Japan to shame.

"If only I knew how closely you all watch me," Youko says wryly, turning away and continuing her journey in a sedate walk. "There isn't anything wrong, not really. Just that this time of the year makes me think too much."

"What do you think about?" Keiki asks in a neutral voice, and Youko has to smile at his efforts.

"Nothing you all should worry about, really." She sighs lightly, a puff of air that blows errand strands of hair away from her face. "It's just that this is the same season in which I arrived in this world, right? And it's around the time I ascended the throne, too. The eighth month of the year is associated with many milestones of my life here."

"It does indeed seem that way. But that's not all."

"No… you're right. It wouldn't bother me so much, except back in Japan, autumn meant _matsuri_ - local festivals - and snacks like takoyaki or shaved ice. Occasionally, the difference gets to me, that's all."

There is a look on Keiki's face. It isn't guilt; to Keiki, Youko belongs to this world, and it is his duty to retrieve the rightful Royal Kei from wherever she resides to assume _her_ duty as ruler. It is as inevitable and unbreakable as the bond between emperor and kirin.

No, what Keiki fears is her longing for her home of birth, that she would forsake Kei to assuage that longing. Youko knows Keiki will never voice that fear aloud.

"There isn't really anything anyone can do about it, Keiki," Youko says, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers. It is a habit she thought she had broken. "My life in Japan is like a dream to me now. It's something I think about, but I won't let it rule me. I'll get over it."

Youko smiles at Keiki, but the kirin merely stares back, not fooled by her easy reassurances. He narrows his eyes, deep in thought.

"Could I trouble you to close your eyes?" Keiki says, folding his hands before him.

"Huh?"

"Please."

When she opens her eyes, Keiki stands a distance away in his gold and white kirin form, his clothes folded in a neat pile next to him.

"Keiki?"

Keiki lifts his hooves high above the grass as he makes his way towards her, as if testing his movements and feeling everything in order. He stretches his head forward to nuzzle her outstretched hand briefly. Youko stares into his eyes; like his mane, they never change between his two forms.

"Are you offering to let me ride you?" Youko asks incredulously. She could count on her hands the number of times she had seen Keiki in his kirin form, much less ride him – he wasn't her pet or anything, and she wouldn't ask if of him except in the most dire of situations.

"Yes." It was times like these that Keiki's composed voice came in handy; his tone was so matter of fact that it grounded her. "When we kirin ponder too much on an issue, we take a gallop elsewhere, on our own. Perhaps it is simply a side effect of being in our beast form, but we always return with a clearer mind and higher spirits." He inclines his head towards Youko once more.

Youko clambers on his back, carefully taking hold of his mane to remain in place. The silky mass is liquid soft, like golden water given solid form. She strokes the strands with two fingers, but forgets it all when Keiki leaps forward in a smooth glide, the wind whipping through her hair and the grassland slipping away behind them.

--

They take their rest near the edge of the Sea of Clouds, under the shade of a great tree, its leaves tinted red and orange with the coming of autumn. Dried, fallen leaves crunch under Keiki's hooves. He halts to let Youko slip off and sinks to the ground, tucking his legs gracefully under him and only huffs softly when Youko claims his side as a pillow. They stare at the play of light dancing through the tree's crown, the rustle of wind through thousands of grass blades a subtle song in the background.

Keiki is half in reverie before he realizes Youko has moved, the warmth by his side gone. She is nearby, his royal sense tells him, and his instincts are right.

Keiki peers sideways and huffs a puff of air from his nose. "What is Your Majesty doing?" he asks, watching as Youko dips fingers through the sea of his mane, threading fallen autumn leaves into half a dozen little braids at the bottom half of the mane. The bright orange-red leaves stands stark against the soft gold.

"It's peaceful out here."

"Yes," Keiki agrees suspiciously, resisting the urge to toss his head and knock all the leaves off.

"Life in as empress is interesting. Never a boring moment. But I wouldn't call it peaceful. In fact, it's downright hectic."

"It would be less hectic if Lady Suzu and Lady Shoukei could remember to follow decorum but once a full moon."

"You mean how they sometimes burst into rooms without warning and take liberties with my jewelry and things? You know I let them. Besides, they respect you and your privacy."

Keiki allows his tail to swish, just once, in resignation. "Decorum. It would be nice if just once we could have some semblance of formality in the inner palace."

"Well, Shoukei gets down right ruffled if I don't uphold my dignity as empress in front of other dignitaries; it's only when we're amongst ourselves that she settles down."

"That is true."

"You can't expect me to keep my hands off your mane."

"Pardon me?" Keiki has to trace the conversation back before realizing that Youko was answering his first question.

Youko chuckles, even as Keiki's ears flicker, once, twice, before splaying out flat. She tilts her head to indicate Keiki's mane, her fingers working to add yet another braid to the mass. "Not too bad, right? You're too light, all gold and satiny white, so I thought something of a dark color would look good on you. And they do."

The braids looked nice _now_, but they – and the leaves braided in by their stalks – would stay when Keiki assumed his human form, and he was _not_ going to explain to his attendants how he ended up with a headful of leaves. Keiki eyes the handwork and prepares to say as much.

"Thank you, Keiki," Youko says, her hands stilling briefly. Keiki swallows his words, his ears going flat again. He still wasn't use to his empress thanking or apologizing to him, even though Youko did it on a regular basis.

"Your Majesty–"

"It's not often we get to spend time together like this." Youko's fingers stops braiding and begins currying through his mane, moving slowly as to not snag on any knot or tangle, even though a kirin's mane contains none. "It feels like I've been empress for just about forever, and then I look into the mirror and sure, I know I don't age anymore, but I look at myself and I know I've only been on the throne a scant handful of years."

Keiki wants to turn, but Youko's hand on the side of his head holds him still.

"Sometimes things get too hectic, with the autumn harvest coming in and preparing the citizens for winter and the plans for the anniversary of my ascent to the throne." Here, Youko's voice turns mildly exasperated, but it quickly fades. "Then there's always stamping out small pockets of resistance, even if they've become rare, and dealing with refugees from Kou and, oh, just about dozens more things to deal with."

This autumn marks the end of the sixth and the beginning of seventh year of Youko's reign – as long a reign as the late Empress Yo, Keiki realizes. He closes his eyes. Youko resumes patting his mane.

"So, at times I forget what I'm really here for. It's as if all I can see are the little details – pass this declaration by today, listen to the Minister of Finance's report and come to a judgment by tomorrow. Even after all these years, it's hard. Even if I'm just talking to Suzu and Shoukei, sometimes all I see is how much work being the empress takes. And then you take me out here, and I remember why I'm empress for."

Youko's voice trails off, and a slight frown mars her face. Keiki knows she is examining her thoughts, something the rash young empress fresh to the throne just a few years ago would not have done so. Youko spoke her mind, no doubt about it, but these days, she picked her words with care. Keiki turns and touches his horn to her shoulder. A smile blooms on Youko's lips.

"All it takes is some perspective," she mutters, touching Keiki's horn lightly before her eyes drop to the leaves scattered around them. "This peace, this simple beauty. It's everything I want Kei to have. It's what the Royal En said – I mustn't forget my other half, my kirin."

Youko selects one from the rest, a perfect, symmetrical leaf, in shades of auburn and deep brown. She slides the leaf carefully into Keiki's mane, as if pinning a precious bauble onto an even more precious person. "Thank you, Keiki. For bringing me here. And for always guiding me back onto the right path."

There are many things Keiki wants to say. Instead, he musters all the grace he can manage and simply states, "it is my duty and my pleasure, Your Majesty."

Youko laughs and the formality of the situation melts away. Keiki bites mockingly, daringly at her hand, careful not to graze her skin, before pointedly turning to look away from his laughing empress. Although she possesses a young woman's alto voice, Youko's laughter is deep and full throated. Mature. Experienced.

"We should do this more often." Youko tilts her head back to regard the pocket of greenery. Windspray from the Sea of Clouds wafts her hair from neck and shoulders and sends the leaves flapping in Keiki's mane. Both of them eye the sight; Youko bites her lips to keep her amused smile at bay. Keiki merely wonders how Youko's crimson hair would look mingled with his golden mane.

"As you please. But," Keiki thinks it wise to interject, "only after our duties have been carried out."

"Of course."

While the late Empress Yo's sixth year marked a time of growing strife, Youko's rule only grows stronger as the years roll by. They have plenty of room to improve, but as far as things go, Kei is on the road to prosperity.

"Can we watch the sunset before leaving?" Youko

Keiki studies the sky above the Sea of Clouds. "If I take you back in my kirin form, there will be no problems."

"Thank you," Youko says, for the third time.

Keiki eyes her. Youko outlawed kowtowing in her first Imperial Rescript, but he is already lying on the ground. He lays his muzzle on her lap and allows Youko to stroke his ears.

**end**

**AN:** Con/crit and feedback is much beloved, as always.


End file.
